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Social and Emotional Strength
Suicide
The taking of one’s life is a moral issue and therefore should be examined with great care and sensitivity. The Encyclopedia of Mormonism notes: "Suicide and attempted suicide are painful and dramatic aspects of human behavior, but this does not mean that they should not be dealt with in terms of the same basic principles as those applicable in understanding and managing any other aspect of human behavior. Thus, principles associated with concepts of agency, accountability, Atonement, eternal life, immortality, resurrection, and family establish the frame of reference Latter-day Saints use to guide their responses to such behaviors as they occur" ("Suicide," 3:1422).
"Man did not create himself. He did not furnish his spirit with a human dwelling place. It is God who created man, both body and spirit. Man has no right, therefore, to destroy that which he had no agency in creating. They who do so are guilty of murder, self-murder it is true; but they are no more justified in killing themselves than they are in killing others" (George Q. Cannon, Gospel Truth, 2 vols., 1:30).
"Suicide consists in the voluntary and intentional taking of one's own life, particularly where the person involved is accountable and has a sound mind. . . . It should also be remembered that judgment is the Lord's; he knows the thoughts, intents, and abilities of men; and he in his infinite wisdom will make all things right in due course" (Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 771).
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